Towards a New Paradigm of Religious Organizations

Abstract  In contemporary Japan, religion is an important issue. Various types of religions such as new religions, occultism, the new age movement, traditional religions etc., attract supporters and exerts a favorable influence on certain aspects of their lives. But, such circumstances are not restricted to Japan. All over the world today, religions have the power to sway national policy and are indispensable in influencing human consciousness and behavior.
Religion is alive and influential even in the secularized world. As such, a cross-cultural study of religions is increasingly needed. Furthermore, the typology of religious organizations provides a means with which to make a comparative study of religion throughout the world.
However, we cannot help but conclude that the theoretical framework developed so far cannot sufficiently deal with the subject in question. This is primarily due to its strong bias towards Christianity, which renders it invalid for analyzing religions in non-Christian regions. This paper will focus on the "cult". The term cult, unlike church-sect-denomination, seems to be applicable to any religious tradition and culture. It is not confined to a specific one such as the Christian tradition and culture.
It should be noted that the cult as previously treated is problematic, too, because it is not free from a bias towards Christianity, and has too negative a connotation for a scientific concept. In this paper, utilizing the merits of the concept of cult, I would like to elaborate a new paradigm of religious organizations. This should allow for a cross-cultural comparison between religious phenomena.